Microsoft’s John Schappert coming back to EA

Fresh off his E3 performance leading Microsoft’s Xbox keynote, John Schappert is heading back to Electronic Arts, where he will serve as chief operating officer.

Schappert will replace John Pleasants, who is leaving to become the CEO of MySpace game developer Playdom. Schappert, the former COO of EA’s worldwide studios, was hired away two years ago to be corporate vice president of the Microsoft interactive entertainment business after almost ten years at EA.

In 1994, Schappert founded Tiburon Entertainment, which was acquired by EA four years later. He helped oversee the creation of numerous titles, including the popular Madden NFL series.

After joining Microsoft in 2007, Schappert helped create the LIVE Software Division and later took on oversight of Microsoft Game Studios and Xbox LIVE. Under Schappert, Xbox LIVE grew from 6 million members to 20 million members.

The return of Schappert is the latest in a number of EA-Microsoft moves. Peter Moore, the former head of Microsoft’s Xbox business, left Redmond in 2007 to become president of the EA Sports label. Don Mattrick, a former EA president, made the jump to Microsoft earlier that year and eventually replaced Moore.